your daily dose of rock and roll

He really wasn't high on cocaine or anything else.

Today in 1900 the stalwart engineer Casey Jones died while running a passenger train on the main line from Memphis, TN to Canton, MS. A switching snafu had stuck 4 freight cars in Jones' path and by the time he saw it coming, he had no options to avoid collision. Jones yelled "Jump!" to the engine's fireman (who jumped and lived) reversed the throttle and slammed on the airbrakes. Only Jones died in the resulting collision and by making his "going down with the ship" decision to stay and brake, he saved the lives of the passengers on board. His friend Wallace Saunders wrote and sang a song depicting his bravery, The Ballad of Casey Jones, which was popularized by Mississippi John Hurt and eventually entered American folk song tradition. The Dead did the trad tune in concert several times and then with the help of lyricist Robert Hunter developed this song which first appeared on their Workingman's Dead LP. Here "Casey Jones" and the train engineer imagery is only a distant allusion to the original man, legend and traditional folk song.

Arriving in April, Departing in April . . .

Peter Ham entered the world in April (the 27th of 1947) and left it the very same month 28 years later (hanged himself 24 April 1975). Lead guitarist for Badfinger, Ham and band mate Tom Evans were the songwriting team behind most of this '70's Brit band's hits (notable exception Come and Get It which was, of course, written by Paul McCartney). Eight years after Ham's suicide, Evans also took his own life. Their most commercially successful achievement was Harry Nilsson's cover of Without You from Badfinger's No Dice album. While many of Badfinger's hits were either predominantly Ham or Evans compositions, Without You is a definitive example of their collaboration as Ham had written the verses in a song he called If It's Love  but lacked a solid chorus. In a separate effort, Evans had written what he felt was a great chorus but had not built any song around it. Without You is the result of the two of them sticking the two elements together.

another chick on bass and some fellahs too

In a chat with a daily doser today—sparked by Kim Gordon's admission that her playing is more about style than virtuosity—I was introduced to bassist Tal Wilkenfeld. This 23 year old Aussie leads her own trio, has toured with The Allman Brothers Band, Chick Corea and Jeff Beck. Here she and Beck have a ball trading licks at the 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago.

The general conversation about bass players with incredible ability followed and he also brought Victor Wooten to my attention. I have yet to listen to as much Béla Fleck and the Flecktones as I'd like to so I didn't know that Wooten has been with the band since the beginning. I believe there's an observation to be made with his performance of Norwegian Wood here that Wooten is taking the bass beyond what a bass is typically expected (and perhaps even intended) to be, namely the ballast of the song ... the bottom that keeps the rhythm section rocking. It's indisputably impressive, as would be a skillfully done interpretation of a toccata on tuba—but I'm not sure I'd log a lot of time listening to tuba toccatas.

Another daily dose fan brought mondo talented bassists Stuart Hamm to my attention. You can see him show off, again in the vein of a tuba toccata, by watching him perform Flow My Tears (The Policeman Said), or you can see him use that thud staff the way the good lord intended in this clip where Joe Satriani mixes up his flying six strings with the solid floor of Hamm's four.

Happy Birthday, Kim Gordon!

Born today in 1953 Kim Gordon, along with artists like Kathy Taylor and Kim Deal, remind us that not much is cooler than a chick playing bass. I hope that's not sexist. I lost my politically correct secret decoder ring a loooong time ago. In addition to her thud staff role with Sonic Youth, Gordon is an accomplished visual artist, curator, art writer and has founded more than one line of women's clothing. Of her bass skills, Gordon has said, "there’s a real art to not learning how to play an instrument and being able to still play it."

A twofer today. I like vintage Sonic Youth, circa Daydream Nation, but I'm also into the more pop encapsulated form of their fuzzy sturm und clang which they began to deliver when they went to the majors (sacrilege, I know).

Dirty Boots is from Goo, their first LP for Geffen, and Incinerate is on Rather Ripped, apparently their last release for Geffen because they're back to indie with their most recent LP, The Eternal, available on Matador. Do you, like me, hear a ghost of an echo of the Stooge's I Wanna Be Your Dog (which Sonic Youth has frequently covered live) when you listen to Dirty Boots?

YouTube has embedding disabled by request for Incinerate, so click the song title to see the video and hear the song.

Happy Birthday, Cuba Gooding, Sr.!

The 65 year old former vocalist for The Main Ingredient does probably not have the same name recognition that his actor son does, but he was the lead vocalist of a Top-40 hit that I will never, ever be able to get out of my head (not like I want to). I just tested myself. I cannot now remember how to accurately say The Pledge of Allegiance from start to finish, but at any given moment since it was #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1973, I could accurately recite the spoken word open to Everybody Plays the Fool. I ain't lying.

Get your lip sync on and dance moves ready ..."OK, so your hearts broken ... "  

Happy Birthday, Chris Mars!

At 47, the man who used to handle sticks, skins and cymbals for shambolic rockers The Replacements doesn't drum much these days. He's more focused on his work as a visual artist, work that is as striking as it is dark--as you'll see in this six minute clip.

"I would have pulled the switch on her myself."

Today in 1988, Valerie Solanas died of emphysema. Had the wish expressed in John Cale and Lou Reed's I Believe come true, she would have died much sooner. Hyper-radical feminist author Solanas is most readily recognized as the woman who shot Andy Warhol in 1968. In the song, from Cale and Reed's excellent 1990 collaboration Songs for Drella (Drella = a Warhol nickname based on a conflation of "Dracula" and "Cinderella"), Lou doesn't mince words.

Happy Birthday, Captain Sensible!

Born today in 1954 Captain Sensible (AKA Raymond Burns) possesses songwriting skills, guitar chops, stage presence and a bountiful sense of humor that are large part of why Brit-punk masters The Damned make such damned good rock and roll. Burns showed early on that punk could be as much about throwing cream pies in the face of "proper" society as casting menacing scowls toward it. The quality of this clip is rough but we see clear signs of Burns' mad guitar skills. I think he's right up there with git players like David Gilmour.

R.I.P. Johnny Thunders

As every school boy knows, it was on this day in 1991 that protopunk guitarist and icon Johnny Thunders was found dead at St. Peter House in New Orleans. Fewer know that Willy DeVille was right next door and has admitted he lied about Johnny dying with a guitar in his hands to, you know, stoke the legend.

As he said in the Leg McNeil and Gillian McCain's excellent book Please Kill Me, "might as well make it look real good, you know, out of respect."

A shame and a mystery to me that DeVille never sold more records. He delivers.

Can I Kick It?

A year ago today a reunited A Tribe Called Quest announced they'd headline the '08 Rock the Bells tour. When they sample Lou Reed and offer unrushed rhymes such as,

"Boy this track really has a lot of flavor.
When it comes to rhythms, Quest is your savior.
Follow us for the funky behavior . . ."

Let's just say ... well, I'm gone.

Friendly tip: Check out Q-Tip's second solo LP, The Renaissance from last year with cameos from Norah Jones and Raphael Saadiq .